60% of nurses under too much pressure at work

Responding to the new survey from the Royal College of Nursing which shows that 60% of respondents agree they are under too much pressure at work and 60% report feeling too busy to provide the level of care they would like, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"This survey shows that nursing staff are stretched on every shift. They are battling to stay on top of their workloads which is why, when additional obstacles such as bad weather or flu come along, they simply don't have the spare capacity needed.

"This is unfair on hardworking staff and terrible for patient welfare. Both the Scottish and UK Governments have to take the blame for this crisis

"Jeane Freeman still hasn't published the Integrated Workforce Plan that overstretched staff were supposed to see a full 12-months ago. This has held back efforts to get the right staff in place and there is simply no excuse.

"Meanwhile the UK Government's disastrous Brexit is making valuable EU staff stream for the exit. We've already lost more than 5,000 EU nurses in the last 2 years.

"It is time the Scottish Government gave health and social care staff the resources and support they need to do their jobs and the UK Government abandoned their reckless Brexit for the good of our NHS."